Refrigerating apparatus.



PATENTED JULY 18, 1905. R. WHITAKER.

REPRIGBRATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-28,1904.

4SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Witnesses Inventor No.795,015. PATENTED JULY 18, 1905. R. WHITAKER.REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR .28,1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W A Wm. WM! Wmnnuuc f a Atlorueys PATENTED JULY 18, 1905 4 SHEETS-SHBBT3.

In Ven tor Attorneys.

R. WHITAKER.

APPLICATION rum) MAR.2B,1904.

\4fi/////////////////// A REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

ANNEVI a mum co. nmuLmloonAnm uammuc Witnesses PATBNTED JULY 18, 1905.

R. WHITAKER. REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

APPL I OATION TILED MAR. 28, 1904- SHBETB-SHEBT 4.

Inventor Attorneys.

No. 795,015. Patented July 18, 1905.

. UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn.

RICHARD WVHITAKER, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF T'WO-THIRDSTO ROBERT W. JOHNSON AND JAMES W. JOHNSON, OF NEWV BRUNSWICK, NEWJERSEY.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 795,015, dated July 18,1905. Application filed March 28, 1904. Serial No. 200,236.

To aZZ whom it may concern: upon the lower face of the bunker and dripBe it known that I, RIoHARD WHITAKER, a into the contents of thecooling-chamber 3. o citizen of the United States,residing in the Agutter 12 serves to convey away moisture city of New Brunswick, countyof Middlesex, which may form on the upper surface of the 5 and State ofNew Jersey, have invented a cer bunker, and this gutter connects with apipe tain new and useful Improvement in Refrig- 13 outside of therefrigerating-chamber.

crating Apparatus, of which the following is A partition 14, extendingfrom the bottom 5 5 a specification. up to within a short distance ofthe top of the The present invention relates toimproverefrigeratingchamber and arranged a short 0 ments inrefrigerating apparatus of that type distance from the wall of the same,forms a with which a compression-machine is used. passage or duct 15 toconvey ascending our- The objects of the invention are to prorents ofwarm air from the cooling-chamber 3 6o duce a device which willautomatically keep to the refrigerating-chamber. A second verthetemperature of the cooling-chamber con tical partition 16, arrangedbelow the bunker,

1 5 stant, and which temperature will be conforms a duct 17 for thedescending currents of trolled within very narrow limits. cold air, theair circulating within the boX 1,

Further objects are to produce a device the ascending currents passingupward which will be simple and cheap and which through the duct 15, andafter being chilled will not easily get out of order. by contact withthe refrigerating means 6 20 I attain these objects by the mechanismwill pass down through the .duct 17 and reillustrated in theaccompanying drawings, turn to the cooling-chamber. The partition inwhich acts as a support for one end of the bunker Figure 1 is an endview of an apparatus and also as the support of thetemperaturecomprising my invention with the door recontrolling mechanismabout to be de- 2 5 moved. Fig. 1 2 is a longitudinal section scribed.In order to control the currents of taken on the lines 2 2 of Fig. 1;Fig. 3, a air, a damper 18 is provided within the coldtransverse sectiontaken on the line 3 3 of air duct 17, and this damper is preferably op-Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side view of the motor erated by automatic means,which will be and operating connections, and Fig. 5 a top described.

0 view of the same, the last two views being The boX 1 is provided withan extensiondrawn upon a larger scale than the others. chamber 19,within which a refrigerating ap- In all of the several views like partsare inparatus 20 is located. A suitable form of 8c dicated by identicalnumerals of reference. apparatus is similar to that illustrated in my Incarrying out my invention I provide a application for patent, Serial No.188,611,

3 5 box 1, which is divided into two parts by a filed January 11, 1904;but the means for auhorizontal partition 2, so as to form acoolingtomatically regulating the amount of eX- chamber 3 and arefrigerating-chamber 4. panded gas in such apparatus as described inThe cooling-chamber 3 is provided with the that application may bedispensed with. ordinary door 5, and the refrigerating-cham- In thepresent invention the refrigerating 4o ber 4 is provided withrefrigerating means 6, apparatus is intended to be operated continuthesemeans in the illustrated embodiment of ously for part of the time andthen. stopped, the invention consisting of a coil 7, arranged theaccumulated cold within the brine-tank within a tank 8 of brine. 8serving to keep the cooling-chamber 3 at Below the refrigerating meansis an inthe proper temperature while the refrigerat- 5 clined falsebottom 10, separated from the ing mechanismQ-O is not running. Itistherelower wall of the bunker by a lining of minfore not essential toemploy the thermostat eral wool 11 or other non-conductingmateconnection as described in that application. 5 rial, so thatmoisture will not be condensed A connection for preventing excessiveback pressure, as described in my application for patent beforereferredto, may be employed. This connection is illustrated in Fig. 1and consists of a diaphragm 21, connected to the expansion end of thecoil 7, so as to be acted upon by varying pressures within the same.

This diaphragm connects to a bell-crank lever 22, which by means of alink 23 is connected to and operates the expansion-valve 24. Thelever-arm of the latter valve is provided with a weight 25 or othermeans for opening it when the pressure on the diaphragm is sulhcientlylow to permit this to e done.

The damper 18 is secured to a shaft 26, which passes through bearings inthe walls of the chamber 3 and extends into the chamber 19, where it isprovided with a lever 27 This lever 27 may be connected to the shaft 26by means of a set-screw, whereby adjustment may be secured. The lever 27is connected to and operated by an intermittentlymoving motor 28, themovements of which are controlled by a thermostat. This motor ispreferably a water-motor and may be operated'by Water from the samesystem which is used to circulate through the cooler and compressor. InFig. 1 a pipe 29 supplies water to the motor, while the pipe 30withdraws it.

The water-motor is shown in detail in Figs. 4 and 5. It consists,preferably, of a body or frame 31 preferably made of castiron and in theform of a tub, the drain-pipe 30 being connected to the bottom thereof.This body is provided with. lugs 32, by means of which it maybe attachedto a wall of the chamber 19. The sides of the body at the center areelevated at 33 and form bearings for the shaft '34. Pivoted upon thisshaft are the levers 35, and between these levers are pivoted thebuckets 36 and 37. The le- Vers 35 are bent inward at one end and areconnected. together at 38 by means of a bolt 39, to which. is pivoted alink 40, which link is connected at the other end to the lever 27. Theproportions of the parts described are such that upon the levers 35being oscillated upon the shaft 34, alternately depressing and elevatingthe buckets 36 and 37, the damper 18 will be opened and closed and movedfrom the positions shown in full lines to that shown in broken lines.The buckets are alternately elevated and depressed by means of a streamof water passing through the pipe 29, which stream. may be diverted fromone bucket to the other, the buckets being provided at or adjacent totheir bottoms with outlets 41, such outlets being smaller than the pipe29, so that one or the other of the buckets will be filled, and so longas the water runs into that bucket it will stay in the depressedposition. The mechanism for diverting the stream of water comprises adouble spout 42, having a centrally-dividing ledge 43. This spout ispreferably of cast metal and is formed with legs 44, which are bolted orotherwise secured to the elevated portions 38 of the body 21, thusforming a rigid structure. The sides of the spout 42 havecentrally-elevated portions 45, between which is pivoted a trough 46.This trough may be oscillated from one side to the other, so that itsdischargeopening 47 will be at one side or the other of thecentrally-disposed ledge 43. The trough is so balanced upon itssupportin -shaft that it may be oscillated upon its ax le 48 by theexpenditure of very littlepower. The trough is oscillated, by means of athermostat or device, for accomplishing a similar purpose located withinthe coolingchamber 3.

The thermostat 49 is of any type, that illustrated in my application forpatent before referred to being one form. It is attached, preferably, tothe partition 16, by means of which it is supported. To the movingelement of the thermostat is connected a link 50, which passes throughan opening in the walls of the box and enters the chamber 19, where itconnects with one arm 51 of a bellcrank lever 52, the other arm 53 beingconnected to the trough 46 by a link 54, so that the trough will beoscillated by the expan-. sion and contraction of the thermostat. Thebell-crank lever is supported from the wall of the chamber 19 by meansof brackets 55.

The operationof the device is as follows:

The refrigerating apparatus being started,

the brine within the tank 8 will be lowered in temperature. The warm airascending from the cooling-chamber 3 through the passage 15 will passaround the tank and be lowered in temperature. The cold air will descendthrough the passage 17 and enter the coolingchamber 3, the circulationof air continuing. In starting the apparatus the motor will be in theposition shown in Fig. 4, the bucket 37 depressed for the reason thatthe thermostat will be in an expanded condition, and the trough 46 movedto the right in the position shown. The bucket 37 will therefore be fullof Water and will remain so until the temperature in the chamber 3becomes-sufficiently low to cause the thermostat by contracting to movethe trough 46 to the left and divert the stream of water into the bucket36. i As soon as the latter overbalances the bucket 37 the damper 18will be moved to the closed position, thus interrupting the current ofcold air. When the temperature rises within the chamber 3 sufficientlyto move the thermostat and oscillate the trough 46, the bucket 36 willbe filled, and after its bucket has been sufficiently emptied to beoverbalanced by the bucket 36 the two will change relative positions andthe damper Will become opened. This alternating action will keep up solong as the stream of water continues through the pipe 29 and thetemperature within the chamber 3 varies above or below the fixed normal.After the cooling apparatus has run a certain timefor instance, inpractice after it has run twelve hours it may be stopped. At this timethe temperature of the brine within the tank 8 may be as low as Zero,Fahrenheit, while the temperature of the cooling-chamber 3 will be justabove freezing. A supply of cold will therefore be stored which willserve to cool the chamber 3 during the time that the refrigeratingapparatus is not running; but it is of course to be understood that thewatermotor will continue to run and the damper will be alternatelyopened and closed, so that the temperature within the cooling-chamberwill be substantially constant.

It is to be understood that the refrigerating-chamber may be supplied byrefrigerant from a source other than the mechanism attached to the box1, such being simply shown for the purpose of illustration.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. In a refrigerating apparatus, the combination with a box, containinga coolingchamber and a refrigerating-chamber, of flues connecting thetwo, and a damper for controlling the circulation through flues andchambers, and a motor outside of the box and means connecting the motorand the damper, and a thermostat within the cooling-chamber and meanspassing through the Walls of the box and connecting the thermostat andthe motor for controlling the movements of the latter.

2. In a refrigerating apparatus, the combination with a box, containinga coolingchamber and a refrigerating-chamber, of fines connecting thetwo, and a damper for controlling the circulation through fiues andchambers, a shaft connected to the damper and extending outside of thebox, and a motor outside of the box and connected to the shaft, and athermostat within the cooling chamber for controlling the movements ofthe motor.

3. In a refrigerating apparatus, the combination with a box containing acoolingchamber and a refrigerating-chamber, of flues connecting the two,and a damper for controlling the circulation through flues and chambers,a shaft connected with the damper and extending outside of the box, amotor outside of the box connected to the shaft, a thermostat within thecooling-chamber, and connected to a bell-crank lever outside of the box,and connections between the lever and motor for controlling the latter.

This specification signed and witnessed this th day of March, 1904.

RICHARD WHITAKER. Witnesses:

T. G. PHINNY, JAMES T. TOMNEY.

